Pokémon Black and White 2 Claims Top Spot for Japan in 2012

Media Create, the most trusted source for the weekly hardware and software charts in Japan, has released details of the top selling games in the region for the whole of 2012. As anyone who follows our regular posts on the weekly Japanese chart will know, Nintendo's been having a good time in its homeland.

The top 30 games sold in Japan from 2nd January to 30th December show a dominant presence for releases on Nintendo systems, with two widely expected games commanding the top spots. It's a memorable last hurrah for the DS — though 3DS owners no doubt joined in — with Pokémon Black and White 2 finishing first by some distance. The top 30 is below, with the year's sales included — lifetime sales (if released before 2012) are in parenthesis.

Media Create also released lifetime sales figures to date for hardware systems, which show the 3DS getting close to the 10 million sales landmark in the country, if both models are combined. The DS wasn't included in the figures, as it was removed from Media Create's reports in late 2012 — more than likely due to its weekly sales dropping into three figures over a sustained period.

A rather healthy 2012 for Nintendo in Japan, with its big hitters on 3DS playing a major role in the software charts. The coming year brings some more big releases for 3DS — particularly Monster Hunter 4 — with the company no doubt also planning big moves to expand its Wii U userbase.

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